Ball State University increases tuition, freezes student fees

Ball State University will increase tuition by less than 2 percent for its students in each of the next two years. It will also freeze fees students pay to attend the Muncie school.

The Ball State Board of Trustees voted Friday to increase tuition for both in-state and out-of-state students by 1.65 percent during the next academic year and 1.64 percent the year after that.

Trustees noted the increase is in line with the recommendation of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education and inflation.

Board president Rick Hall says even though tuition is going up, he considers Ball State a leader in fiscal responsibility.

“How much we spend per student and how we’ve been able to keep that spending per student almost flat for almost a decade is really remarkable.”

For the last several years, Purdue University has frozen base tuition for certain groups of students at its main campus.  Indiana University did the same this year.

But as Ball State’s Vice President for Business Affairs Bernie Hannon points out, those schools did not freeze student fees.

“We’re going to have this small increase on the base tuition and we’re not going to raise fees at all.  Some other schools have done the exact opposite.  We think it’s a little more transparent to say ‘Here’s your tuition.’  You should be able to recognize what you’re going to pay this year instead of having to go back and trying to find what fees you’re going to pay.”

All students at Ball State will continue to pay a total of $662 for technology, recreation, and health center-related fees.  Program-related fees have also been frozen.

In Friday’s meeting, the trustees also approved a 2 percent wage increase for faculty and staff at Ball State.